Jomhor News Agency, a private news agency, said that it has closed its central office in the capital Kabul as a result of repeated Taliban threats. The group’s intelligence agency has asked it to remove any article criticizing the Taliban’s rule.
In a statement issued on Sunday, December 11, the news agency said that the Taliban authorities have repeatedly threatened and interrogated its in-charge Kabul through phone calls, summons, and warnings.
In its first serious warning addressed to the agency on May 11, 2022, the Media Monitoring Directorate of the Taliban regime accused the media outlet of operating against the group’s rule in Afghanistan.
According to the statement, the Taliban has asked the news agency publisher not to publish any op-ed, news, or report against the group. Even, the statement added, the Taliban has asked that the agency must avoid publishing “negative news” about the group’s rule in Afghanistan.
Moreover, the news agency added that the Taliban’s intelligence agency has asked it to remove op-eds and reports criticizing the Taliban’s rule from its website and Facebook page. The Taliban have made these requests through “threatening calls and messages” sent to the media outlet, according to the statement.
The Taliban have imposed severe restrictions on media operations ever since the group returned to power in August 2021. The group’s fighters have detained, tortured, and threatened journalists time and again.
With the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan, half of the media outlets have stopped operating in Afghanistan and a huge number of journalists have been forced to leave Afghanistan.
